Words
Hello persuasion ... meet resistance
As a group facilitator there’s plenty of opportunity to watch people trying to persuade others. You quickly notice patterns and how well intentioned persuasive arguments lead to resistance ... often resistance that wasn't there at the start. What’s happening that allows your persuasion to cause resistance? My
The perils of consultant speak and how it kills sales
Consultant speak. We all do it. Some more than others. Defining projects as nominalisations … business transformation … blue sky thinking or results as platitudes … strategy into action … creative collaboration and tired claims about our practice … dynamic … focused … agile. Sometimes the purpose behind these words and phrases is to impress, or to
How do you create desire for your consultancy?
Did you know that just before signing the Cuba trade embargo President John F. Kennedy pocketed 1200 H.Upmann cigars? Smart move because overnight they became highly sought after. Now think about the illusion of new iPhone scarcity Apple use to increase demand, why concert tickets for your favourite artists
How consultants blow initial prospect meetings
You know those interesting conversations with prospects that end up going nowhere? Did you ever wonder what that's about? This is how it works. We've invested heavily in marketing activities of various kinds. We've finally got that meeting with a very important prospect. So,
Will these 9 unusual questions to help you qualify and close?
In my post about fact addiction I mentioned that to sell consultancy effectively you must go beyond facts and get clients to think, feel and act. I ended that post by saying stay tuned for more on this. Well ... I've now drawn together some 'soft' questions
How to get amazing email responses - lessons for consultants
This week a client told me about their tremendous 80% take up rate. This was for an email they'd designed to get meetings with top executives. What's the secret behind this success? My clients did four simple things extremely well: Irresistible offer Knowing exactly what’s
Consultants: Are you working in a proposal factory?
It's easy to become a proposal factory when you sell consultancy. And Invitation to Tenders (ITT) and Requests for Proposals (RFP) take you down this route. You'll know you’re on the production line when you write through the night, send out for pizza, and submit
Permission to fail
There’s a thing about failure in the air. Jerry Colonna just released a Podcast “Fail with Honour”. Seth Godin recommends buying Pema Chodren’s new book “Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better” on the basis that your failure narrative keeps you from succeeding. I find these perspectives inspiring and so
Are you a fact addict?
To sell consultancy you must influence how clients think, feel and act. In his brilliant book, Change or Die, Alan Deutschman writes about three popular strategies we misguidedly use to try and influence others to change. One of these is to lay out the facts, in the belief that once
Qualification is the secret sauce
A prospective client and I were talked about doubling sales without taking more time. They were sceptical until I told them about my clients and my own results. Finally they asked me, "What made the biggest difference to your sales performance?" I explained that I'd successfully